Lawsuit seeks data over searches of electronics at US border

FILE - In this Dec. 3, 2014 file photo, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer checks under the hood of a car as it waits to enter the U.S. from Tijuana, Mexico through the San Ysidro port of entry in San Diego. A group of First Amendment attorneys is suing the Trump administration over access to data showing how often citizens and visitors had their electronic devices searched and the contents catalogued at the border. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
(The Associated Press)

FILE - In this April 23, 2009 file photo, U.S. border officials set-up a road block to search cars as traffic backs up on Interstate-5 before crossing the border into Mexico from the U.S. at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego. A group of First Amendment attorneys is suing the Trump administration over access to data showing how often citizens and visitors had their electronic devices searched and the contents catalogued at the border. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy, File)
(The Associated Press)

WASHINGTON – A group of First Amendment attorneys is suing the Trump administration over access to data showing how often citizens and visitors had their electronic devices searched and the contents catalogued at the border.

The federal complaint by Columbia University's Knight First Amendment Institute says the Department of Homeland Security is acting too slowly providing data about phones and computers searched at the border.

The group says the case raises important questions about privacy protections.

The lawsuit marks an early challenge for President Donald Trump under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. His administration has pushed for an aggressive border policy and has tried twice to enact temporary travel restrictions from several majority-Muslim countries.

A Homeland Security spokesman did not immediately respond to questions about the case.